Friday, April 06, 2012

Salt Point

I went out to the coast the other day to go “Shrooming” with my pal, Don Freeland. This was a trip we had taken before, but not of the psychedelic variety. We drove past Jenner up the coast toward Ft. Ross to Salt Point State park. We pulled the car just off to the side of the road and walked in about a quarter of a mile. The streams were filled and the ground was moist, so it was good to have a pair of water resistant boots on my feet.The forest was rich with new growth and everything was very green.

After looking around for the various types of mushrooms that grow in the area, we came across some we were unfamiliar with; and naturally left them alone. Last year, we had travelled here with a Mycologist named Chester who knew a lot about what was safe to pick. Chester has passed on since (no,not from ingesting poisonous mushrooms), but left us with a basic knowledge, so we could at least tell the difference between a Chanterelle and a Yellow foot. Don had left at home an Audibon Society guide of mushrooms that grow in Northern California. We hiked to a few different spots hoping to find an abundance of different species, but determined that it was still too early on in the season which hasn’t produced much rainfall this year.The mushroom crop was slim picking this year.

Don said that it was usually a week or two after early Spring rains drench the ground when mushrooms start to appear. Perhaps too, some pickers had gotten the jump on us, but I doubt it. Anyway, we came home with a small bag of Chanterelles ( no black ones, though ) and had a positive experience and adventure.